HONOLULU, Hawaiʻi — During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaiʻi—as in other states—saw many of its residents lose their jobs, or incur other financial hardships as a result of the economic disruptions caused by the disease. A moratorium on evictions for failure to pay rent was issued by the governor, which was extended several times.

To avoid the threat of mass evictions brought on by large scale job loss, Hawaiʻi created rent relief programs that helped tenants and landlords cover rent shortfalls, and created a pre-litigation mediation program through enacting Act 57 (2021).

Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s latest study—created in partnership with the Housing Crisis Research Collaborative—demonstrates the incredible success of this program and aims to ascertain whether or not there are ways to increase housing stability by expanding these temporary measures Hawaiʻi put into place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Evictions are harmful for everyone involved,” said Kenna StormoGipson, Director of Housing Policy for Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Hawaiʻi Budget & Policy Center. “Landlords and tenants both want stability in housing arrangements. For landlords, the process of eviction and finding new tenants is costly. For tenants and their families, the costs are even higher. 

“A forced move may mean the loss of their security deposit and belongings, a change in schools, a longer commute to work, and a negative mark on their rental history that can make finding suitable housing more difficult. For some tenants, eviction will result in homelessness. Finding ways to increase housing stability by resolving disputes between landlords and tenants benefits everyone.”

The research team compared the results of the Act 57 mediation program with efforts at mediation that fell outside of the program, both before and during the pandemic, and found the Act 57 program to be multiple times more effective at finding resolutions that kept tenants housed. The percentage of mediations that resulted in settlement significantly increased from 47 percent of pre-Act 57 mediations to 87 percent. More significantly, the number of tenants that remained in place as ongoing tenants, increased from 11 percent to 85 percent.

“The Act 57 program ended on August 6, 2022, in what should be considered resounding success,” said Ray Kong, Legal Director of Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Lawyers for Equal Justice and lead author of the report. “For the landlords, the agreements reached often meant they were able to recover back rent and avoid the costly processes of litigating an eviction action and finding new tenants. 

“For families who were able to remain in their homes as a result of Act 57 and the availability of rent relief, they avoided forced moves that often result in the loss of security deposits and belongings, a change in schools, a longer commute to work, a negative mark on their rental history, and for some, homelessness.”

The Act 57 program diverted from the court system as many as 1,201 eviction cases—the total number of Act 57 cases that were settled during the program’s duration. Doing so undoubtedly reduced strain on judges’ calendars, filing clerks, workers who assist litigants when they get to court, and everyone else involved in the process of a case making its way through the system.

Further study on these costs is necessary, but it is reasonable to anticipate that the costs of mediation under an Act 57-like program—estimated at $250 to open each case with an additional $250 for every mediation session conducted (e.g. $350,000 to open 1,000 cases and hold 500 mediations)—is likely to be either comparable to or lower than the costs to the Judiciary if the cases were to go through the court process. 

In addition, the team collected qualitative data through a series of interviews with tenants, mediators and two lawyers specializing in eviction cases. These findings confirm the effectiveness of the Act 57 mediation program and help isolate and lift up several factors that explain its success when compared to non-Act 57 mediation efforts:

• Conducting mediation pre-litigation is likely to have had a significant impact on settlement and whether a tenant remains as an ongoing tenant.

• Providing adequate time to mediate and contracting paid mediators, as opposed to relying on volunteer mediators, also appears to have increased the likelihood of successful mediation.

• The availability of rental relief was key to ensuring housing stability, but rental relief alone is insufficient.

• The use of video conferencing software in lieu of requiring a personal appearance in court provides tenants with more comfort and confidence by placing parties on a more even field, even if the landlord is represented by counsel.

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Hawaiʻi Appleseed envisions a Hawaiʻi that puts its people first—a Hawaiʻi where everyone can meet their basic needs while living happy, healthy and creative lives. We advocate for economic justice for and with Hawaiʻi’s people. 

The Housing Crisis Research Collaborative aims to address the long-standing inequities in access to safe, stable, and affordable rental housing that have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide policymakers at all levels of government with the data and analysis they need to design, implement, and evaluate more equitable and effective rental housing and community development responses to the pandemic and the ongoing rental housing affordability crisis.